Chapter 82: Third Rank Official
"Second brother, tsk..."
"What's wrong?"
"This Qin Zhenning, he's a good guy, right? He's an old friend of your wife, right? Well, I think he's quite handsome..."
"Your Majesty, rest assured. He is indeed a good talent. I can guarantee this!"
When Jiang Huailiang heard that the emperor agreed with what he said, he immediately patted his chest, moved closer to the emperor and made his assurance in a low voice.
"My wife told me that Qin Zhenning is my father-in-law's favorite student. He once passed the imperial examination and won the title of third place. If he hadn't been unlucky and didn't have a good time, he would definitely be a big shot now.
Your Majesty, it's not that I'm trying to form a clique, but I think this man is quite capable. He comes from a well-established family, so he must have something special, otherwise he wouldn't be able to produce the snow lotus. Do you think this makes sense?
"It just so happens that the court is short of people everywhere right now. With such a prominent family's representative coming forward to pledge allegiance, Your Majesty no longer has to feel like a local tyrant entering the city. Isn't that great?"
"That's true, and I know you're considering the court, but the key is that he..."
There are some things that the emperor cannot say directly, otherwise his brothers will lose face. But if he doesn't say it, he is afraid of his brothers, so he doesn't want to do anything unclearly, right?
"He's an old friend of your wife's! He looks quite handsome! More respectable than the two of us!"
"Yeah, I noticed that too."
Jiang Huailiang continued to give advice despite having a toothache.
"But we can't deliberately prevent him from showing up just because he's better-educated than us, right? He's even offered medicine, Your Majesty!"
Am I jealous that others are prettier than me?
Am I not worried about you?
Your wife already dislikes your rough looks, and now you have a handsome man in front of her for comparison. Do you think you are not living a comfortable life?
A heartless thing!
The emperor rolled his eyes at him in displeasure. He suppressed all the complaints he had about him, too lazy to point at this idiot.
He turned his face to smile, walked forward with enthusiasm and a hint of gratitude, and helped Qin Zhenning, who was bowing, to his feet.
"Quickly, spare the formalities. I've long heard of the Qin family's former prodigy. I've always wanted to recruit you into the court, but I haven't wanted to disturb your peaceful aspirations.
I will remember your contribution of offering medicine today!
If you don't give up, would you be willing to serve as an official in the court?"
He made some high-sounding remarks in a serious manner, which made Qin Zhenning bow down to him.
"Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty. I will dedicate myself to Dayu until my death!"
One of them was willing and the other was interested, and the relationship between king and subject was immediately established.
"Hahaha, my dear, please get up quickly!"
An hour later, all the aristocratic families in the capital received the latest news. Qin Sanlang, the patriarch of the Qin family who had been missing for over a decade, was now a third-rank official in the Ministry of Personnel.
So whether the emperor is a man of great ambition or not is another matter, the key point is that he is particular. No matter whether it is to express gratitude for sending medicine to save the prince, or he is willing to spend a fortune to buy horse bones, in short, he will give high positions.
Fortunately, the seemingly unremarkable herb actually had a real effect. After taking the detoxification pill, the prince finally regained consciousness two days later.
Although his body was indeed fragile and could not be saved, at least his life was definitely saved. As his biological father and mother, the emperor and empress did not dare to ask for more.
However, the Zhao family, who had spent countless things for the queen and the prince, could no longer sit still after hearing that the prince would be bedridden for the rest of his life.
How could a sickly prince who could die at any moment possibly hold onto the throne of the Crown Prince? Could it be that all the hard work and effort the family had put into this position was going to be handed over to someone else for nothing?
Absolutely not!
In Qianyuan Hall, Duke Cheng'en directly attacked the Imperial Noble Consort. He openly implicated the Qiao family for their immorality and their ruthless and audacious plot to murder the crown prince, all in order to secure the position for the Third Prince.
"What nonsense!"
The imperial concubine who was summoned for confrontation sat on the right side of the emperor, looking at Duke Cheng'en with a cold raise of her lips.
"If I wanted to murder him, why would I wait until he ascended the throne? If you, the Zhao family, have evidence, please produce it. If you accuse me of something you don't have, I won't be in a good mood!"
Duke Cheng'en raised his hand to salute the emperor and made his response.
"Your Majesty, I have evidence!"
The queen said nothing, her eyes kept lowered as she stared at the patterns on the floor tiles, wondering what she was thinking.
"If you have any evidence, just bring it out. If you can prove that it's related to me, I will immediately kill myself in this Qianyuan Palace to make amends to the Queen and her son!
If you make false accusations against me, I, Qiao Yunshu, will fight your Zhao family to the death!"
"Royal Concubine, be careful with your words!"
Seeing that his wife was still so bad-tempered, the emperor quickly spoke up to make amends for her.
"Whatever you have to say, just say it. I'm not stupid, so why would I need you to swear such a vicious oath? What kind of words are you talking about?"
After calming down the angry imperial concubine, the emperor turned his head to the left and looked at the silent queen, then sighed inwardly.
"Lord Cheng'en, please present any evidence you have."
"yes!"
Duke Cheng'en took out a familiar white jade ruyi pendant from his sleeve and respectfully presented it before the emperor.
"I wonder if the emperor still remembers this thing?"
How can I not have an impression of that?
This thing used to be hung on the emperor's body, but was later stolen by his eldest son, Li Laosi, who presented it to his father-in-law as a courtesy. How did it end up in the hands of Duke Cheng'en now?
"This is the jade pendant I gave to Duke Ling. How did it end up in your hands?"
"Your Majesty, this is a token of trust found on the thief."
"What thief?"
"The thief who murdered the Crown Prince and the Sixth Prince!"
Duke Cheng'en began to narrate with reason and evidence.
"This time, not only was the Crown Prince murdered, but the Sixth Prince was also killed. Fortunately, the Sixth Prince is in better health and woke up in time.
While everyone was busy trying to save the Crown Prince, the Sixth Prince sent someone to find me. He told me that the maid who served tea that day had disappeared without a trace. After searching for her, they found her body in a dry well in the cold palace. They also found the jade pendant hidden in her purse on her body!
"You fart!"
Jiang Huailiang, who was originally standing by, wondering if he could help his mother-in-law with her vocals at any time, now really couldn't stand at all.
Good man, this bastard Cheng Engong is pulling the calf and it seems that he is going to drag my whole family into this!
"My jade pendant is still well kept at home! I burn three sticks of incense every morning and evening to express my gratitude for the emperor's great grace.
Where the hell did you get this broken jade pendant? How dare you put the blame on me? If you can't explain yourself properly today, I'll fight you!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
